Time to get organised. Or as my wife would put it 'Get these fucking plants out of our bedroom' Well she would if she wasn't quite as patient with me

So anyway we take one of these :

[attachmentid=105455]

Which is a B&Q Garden Storage Box with two of the worst planters imaginable (bin for them).

Inside is a bit uneven to say the least!

[attachmentid=105458]

Onwards.

We cut some 6mm plywood to fit, or rather the helpful lad at B&Q cut it once we had pointed out that it was possible to cut it all from one sheet. Yes even with the safety guidelines.

[attachmentid=105460]

I think you can see where we're going with this?

[attachmentid=105461]

Onwards.

Now it is likely that is may be bloody cold where these mums (not clones obviously) may be so some insulation may help?

[attachmentid=105462]

This stuff apparently is equivalent to 55mm of solid polystyrene so we'll have some of that

Now we add some mylar....

next post...

Onwards.

Mylar is always good :

[attachmentid=105463]

Then we seal the other end, prop and leave for 24 hours (or so)

[attachmentid=105464]

Oh and we may as well do the lid

[attachmentid=105465]

Velcro hooks around the edge.

Now we wait for the sealant to cure and the carbon filters to turn up. The other two sides of the box will deal with ventilation.

Discuss

I will be adding a 'parts list' at the end lads, once I have sorted out my mistakes. I reckon 70 quid will do this plus lighting, but an enviro or a couple of fluoros will do and the box is 106cm long so you have options galore.

I'll be using what I have. A 125W 'Nurturelite'.

Edit : spray-on adhesive rocks when applying mylar. I'm utterly crap at this stuff but it works for me. Might want to get a bit more air extraction next time though as the fragrance in there is distinctly 'early 80s evostik". One of the few things I never did (glue) and a whiff of this reminds me why not

Nice mod I take it you'll be putting it up vertically when it's finished?

No. It's a little wider and a bit lower than my existing area but it'll be as you see it. Its 106cm(w)x48cm(h)x38cm(d). Thats the interior dimensions of the plywood 'box'. The insulation, filtering and ventilation will fit in between the plastic box and the plywood box. I'll hang a cooltube with a 125W nurturelite inside and bobs your father's brother

That's the plan anyway

Thankfully I can't do anything to it until tomorrow. Sealant normally annoys me but in this case I think I'll use the time to think

Good job mate look forward to viewing your progress

hi mate is a good idea have a spare room to veg in.


im thinking your box is alittle small will it fit a clone tray and are you keeping a mum inside? ventilation is the key to success in small box grows take some time to sort that out.


i use two veg boxes stacked onop of eachother made from allitube 1m tall x 1.2 wide 60cm deep the second room is more for storage and in hope i aquire some more strains soon. the main veg room lighting is simple and economical 4 x 4 foot flouros, 3 globes are grolux and 1x triphospher green.

each room holds 4 or 6 jammed clone trays so near 400 clones if need, but normally 1 tray of seed/clones and 2x mums. power wouldnt cost me $10 per 2 months and the way ive stacked to two rooms means it takes up little space.

venting

i started with 2x cpu fans for extraction 1 per room and passive inlets, but as fans got older they got louder so ive scrapped the cpu fans and added a small plastic squril cage fan like used in bathrooms easily does both rooms.

mums i can keep between 40cm x 40cm upto 60cm x 60cm for about 9 months before they need replacing or totally chopped back.


hope to see your room full of green soon:yahoo:

wouldent you have just been better building a box out of thicker ply?

i had the same thaught as you when i seen them in diy store, hmmm cheep as chips me thaught, that would do nicely for clones and seedlings.

but then i thaught ply board is cheeper.

mind you it would be a good stealth box for the garage. will keep an eye on this thread me thinks.

Yes, making the box look 'normal' is top priority. The wife is starting to insist on it now. Quite right too The garage is in fact where this is going for now. In summer it may just go outside but if it does then I'll filter the air intakes

Having the outer plastic shell is handy as I can fill the cavity with insulation, which also dampens any noise. Hopefully.

I don't do a lot of cloning (just enough for a grow, 1-4 plants) and the box is bigger than the area I had been using (before the borg came calling). I think it'll be big enough for four or five mums (more if I get the hang of bonsai) and a propogator. I might put a little removable shelf in there with the offcuts of plywood if it looks like I haven't enough room for the propogator + mums. No vegging is required in there (switching completely to hydro this year). I thought it was easily big enough but you have me wondering now

Just having a think about how best to do the intakes. The wooden inside shell could be half a light baffle really, just needs the inside half building.

kep up the good work hope to see some green soon . how much did u pay for the hole set up

I'll do a parts list with costs at the end. There is a delay at the moment as the sealant is taking ages to cure because its in the garage and the current temperature is 12C. No desperate rush anyway.

It'll be more expensive than it could have been as I found washable carbon filters that fit in cooker hoods. They are carbon filters and not grease filters before anyone asks and basically you wash them in the dishwasher at 65C every 3 months, resulting in a filter life of 3 years+ We have metal mesh grease filters in our cooker hood and this is not the same stuff, but I suspect it might be metal mesh coated with activated carbon/charcoal.

Now this may or may not be true but there is only one way to find out The filter is described as a 'Washable activated carbon/charcoal filter' and costs £35. You're probably all thinking "Might as well buy a normal carbon filter" and you may well be right, however this one is 220x180mm and can fit in all sorts of places a can filter can't A mums box seems like a good place to start testing it.

may i make a sugestion!

have a look at this idea for the filter:

[attachmentid=105765]

The problem is that if I do the vents at each end then I lose the stealth aspect. A garden storage box with vents looks well dodgy I can hide one end but can't hide the other easily.

Your arrangement was my first thought too, but I reckon I should take the more complicated route of having both intake and extraction at the back. Still thinking about it and waiting for the carbon filter to turn up. Oh and waiting for yesterdays sealant to cure

OK I have received the filters. I'll do some pics later but you can buy one filter and turn it into two which cuts the cost down a bit. The instructions state that every 3 months you should wash the filter at >65C in a dishwasher, then place the filter in an oven at 100C for 10 minutes to 'reactivate' the carbon. If it works then I have 6 years worth of carbon filters for mums/clones and drying

I will report back when I start doing the back panel and ventilation.

Project gone on hold for a day. Reason = making bubblehash. Thank god for friends

nice stealthy job i want one

Still on hold as I'm doing work on my main grow area. I got 12g (dried) of lovely bubblehash so I have ripped out the Sandstorm I was rushing along. No point in wasting time with that now. I'll grow it properly next year

Need to get Orient Express clone into hydro ASAP so this box is on hold until tomorrow. Again God what am I like

I decided I had to start getting this done so no smoke for me today. Until now that is

When we left the box it had three sides in place and I was still deciding on ventilation. Well here's what I decided to do :

[attachmentid=106977]

The three vents at the far left are the intakes. Three is probably too many for this but easier to do three now. If you look closely you'll see that the floor and wall are painted black there in preparation for a light baffle which I have built.

On the far right is the extraction.

From the outside :

[attachmentid=106978]

Stealthy enough when the box is next to a wall

Now we fit the back panel :

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There is a 120mm AC fan there which hopefully will push enough air. I think it will

The carbon filter which will go between the fan and the vent :

[attachmentid=106981]

Bad photo I know but I was pushed for time

Now we fit the cooltube to the inside of the lid :

[attachmentid=106982]

We don't really need a cooltube, just a way of mounting the E40 lampholder to the lid. I had a cooltube spare so I used that. If you don't then find another way of mounting it but you won't need a reflector as the lid is covered in mylar.

There are handles on the other side of the lid which you'll see in later photos.

Tomorrow's tasks (once the sealant has dried) are :

1. Fit baffle
2. Fit hinges
3. Go to Maplin and get an IEC receptacle (makes it neat)
4. Wire in timer etc

Hopefully by tomorrow night I will be able to give it a run to see what min/max temps and humidity are.

Enough for today though

So lets see what I did get done :







Didn't happen as they were the wrong type. No desperate rush for these.



Didn't happen as I found a cable with the right connector. Not as neat as a panel mount but I could still do that.



Now this was annoying. Cheap wall-mounted electronic timer meant for switching lights on and off but nowhere on the packaging did it say that it could only handle filament bulbs. So its just wired in without one for now.



Doing that now but the temps won't be right as the lamp is only using 65W instead of 125W. No bad thing probably for mums/clones but I'll have to make a note that its on the way out.

Pictures in a little while once I have given it an hour or so to heat up. The fan seems to be capable of the job but it is a little noisy. You can only hear it when you are in the garage anyway.

nice

esp like the cooltube bit

well in m8ty BA.

Thanks BA.

On to the end (less hinges & timer). Inside with the lamp off :

[attachmentid=107274]

The baffle which was missing yesterday is now fitted. Camera doesn't like that much mylar with a flash so......

Lights on

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Had to resize down though

Photo of the inside lid closed :

[attachmentid=107279]

All closed up and looking innocent

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I'll finish off the photos when I get hinges and timer sorted. Temperature is running about 22C which is nice

There's been a few modifications :

[attachmentid=117410]

I've added an immersion heater timer, a three way switch (which controls light & fan, extraction fan, and heat mat). The box has also been properly earth bonded too. I couldn't be bothered with hinges though

Inside now has a 200W PURple lamp with associated ballast :

[attachmentid=117413]

I added an 80mm mains fan to blow the heat from the lamp over to the extractor fan. Seems to work OK

Looking very good m8

aitchy

Oh yes and there are some green things inside

[attachmentid=117418]

From left to right :

A revegging ECSD that I got (back) from a friend - if you think it looks ill now you should have seen it 6 weeks ago ;
2 Orient Express mums (they're the next grow);
3 SSH in the larger pots;
2 Sandstorm in the smaller pots.

The Sandstorm and SSH were germed at the same time and the difference is pretty obvious to anyone who isn't blind I would say.

Sandstorm is I think a bad name for this plant as there is nothing vigorous about it at all - Glacier would have reflected its growth rate I think I'm going to give them every chance but I still think its a waste of time and space. The last batch I germed behaved just the same

PS - the leaves aren't actually that green. The camera reacts badly to having so much of the flash reflect back and overcompensates the saturation.

Top looking little box you made there.
I have been thinking of doing something simillar, maybe a little larger.
Could you put up your parts list and costs, cheers.

I will do but not right now PM me about it if it isn't posted in a few days as I'll have forgotten about it